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Why Arsenal DO need a top striker to challenge Giroud

Statistics and Econometrics could be very Misleading By Galen.

I will first of all start by saying congrats to JS for the great reserch he made, and for gathering all the statistical evidence to come up with a solid case for Giroud. My argument is that for the first time in the last 10 years we have a realistic chance of actually competing for the title, so at the moment we need players that really can help take us to the next level.

Giroud has shown great improvements season after season and I have to congratulate him for that. But Diego Costa for example in his first season has done something Giroud has not been able to do for 3 full seasons at Arsenal.

I think Giroud has done well especially as he only cost us £9.6m. I feel he has paid every penny of his transfer fee. But I also feel that he needs help…

JS can come up with every statistical and econometrical data to tell us everything we need to to know about goals, and how the burden should be shared by team mates. But Mr Wenger himself said on signing Gabriel that the most important aspect of judging a player is the “EYE”. Opta, Squawka and all the statistics are great – but nothing is more important than watching the game with your eye’s. Some players have got great statistics after the game, but if you watch the game itself they are not very good. Statistics could sometimes be very misleading.

On signing Paulista, Wenger said they look at STATDNA statistics. But that he insists that the numbers must be confirmed by the eye. “We look at interceptions, defensive errors, winning tackles – what we call tackles is committing to win the ball,” Wenger said. “Set piece receptions, these kind of things. The most important thing is through the eye.

“Does this system find players for us? That is what we look for, of course, because it is difficult to watch all the games. But what I mean is that if the numbers confirm the eye, it gives you more.”

We could come up with all idea’s to convince ourselves that we are good enough up front but the eyes tell me we are not good enough. Giroud is exactly the type of CF that defenders want to play against. I mean the premier league defenders like John Terry, Cahill, Kompany, Fonte, Skrtel, Huth, Dann, Shawcross, etc. They all want to play against a tall and powerful striker that is slow and less mobile, so that they can have that physical battle. A guy like Kompany is taken to the cleaners by guys with good movements. But when you give Kompany a guy like Giroud, then Kompany starts looking like Franco Baresi!

Giroud has always complained when a new striker is mentioned. He complained about Higuain in 2013, that for me is a weakness. He complained about Henry attacking his pride last season, and then went six games without scoring! In 2013 this is what Giroud had to say: “If the coach wants me to rest, he can do it without buying a new striker.

“Lukas Podolski is having a good comeback. Theo Walcott can play as a striker. We have the quality and the quantity.

“I would rather not see a new striker come in.”

When a team wants to win trophies they are happy for new players to come in. They are excited to get every help they need to make them winners. Cazorla, Sanchez and Nacho have all called for a new striker, because they realise the team needs help in that department. We should have no doubt about this. We should not get emotional now and say ‘what about Giroud?’ ‘What about Welbeck?’ We have an opportunity to challenge so lets go for it.

This article is not meant as a criticism of Giroud, nor is it to say that Giroud is not good enough. It is more about Arsenal bringing another option to give Giroud a push – and to give the club some help. We are not saying that Lacazette (for example) should come and be first choice striker for Arsenal. We are saying that Lacazette should come and compete with Giroud and fight for their place. We don’t want players feeling comfortable in their position. Giroud will benefit from competition.

If Ospina is leaving the club when his statistic shows he is one of the best Arsenal keepers in the last 10 years, then why should we not continue the ruthlessness by bringing a new striker? Giroud, like Ospina, has done nothing wrong. But we need to go to the next level and if there is someone out there better, like Cech or a top striker, then we should go for it.

The “Eye” is very important. My “Eyes” tell me Giroud is good but it also tells me he lacks the fear factor and the quality to be the leading striker of a team that wants to win the Premier League.

51 thoughts on “Why Arsenal DO need a top striker to challenge Giroud”

OT: Just read we’ve agreed a £24M fee for Schneiderlin. Any truth to this? If so all that’s left is a versatile attacker for mainly the RW. Early business with a full pre-season would work wonders for us next season I think.

We do not need a striker to challenge Giroud.
We need a striker to bench Giroud .
Everything wrong with Giroud was apparent in the last French euro qualifier
You see Henry, peak Drogba,aguero, anelka,van piersie anywhere near the 18 yard , you smell goal .
With giroud ….. ?
Not do much.
would Giroud get into the invisible era squad?
You cannot be shouting winger-out and want to retain Giroud as the main striker

The more I think about it I come to the conclusion that we signed welbeck and if we hadn’t we would be looking for a striker, but with giroud,welbeck and now Theo we are unlikely to sign a striker. Sad and depressing but true

WOW judging by the thumbs down, I see there’s a few out there who are against us getting Schneiderlin. I guess Arteta and Flamini will do the trick this time around. Seriously though, it was something I just read and now I’m reading that according to the bookies he’s odds on to join by 2 September.

Cech and Schneiderlin would be great business, but i would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned about the Kos to Real noises. Ramos seems gettable for the first time in his career and Howedes recently said we wanted him this window, be a bitter blow of that was as a replacement for Kos.

Anyway, good article Galen I agree with your sentiments and think we’d be foolish not to upgrade our ST. Lots of people have commented about us needing defensive reinforcements yet those same people feel bad for Ospina, rate our back 4, and love Coquelin….so who would be upgraded back there?…fickle bunch.

I look at the first 11 and think the most telling improvement can be made with an established DM, and a top class ST – Cech is a bonus.

MY EYES TELL ME OG12 N WELBECK R NOT ANY THING 2B CONSIDERED, MAY B WALCOT BUT HE CANT B FIRST CHOICE AS WELL TS SO HURTING LP9 WHOSE LETHAL IS WANTED OUT INSTEAD….ALL IN ALL WE NEED A STRIKER FAR BETTER THAN THEM ALL.

If Ospina is leaving the club when his statistic shows he is one of the best Arsenal keepers in the last 10 years, then why should we not continue the ruthlessness by bringing a new striker?

This is the type of article we should have here not stupid Metro and Mirror or those click bait titles which have nothing to do with the article itself let alone the reality!
Is it too much to ask for a rigorous selection of the articles from the admin/Bob?

Yesterday on SkyBet we were 8/1 to sign him with United 4/1. Today we are 11/10 to sign him with United 6/4. We are now odds on favourite to sign him. Whether it happens or not I don’t know, but if the odds on SkyBet are anything to go by, he’s leaving Southampton soon.

Good written article, it speaks most of the fans thoughts. We need a top striker, just look at how many strikers man city had last season, aguero,dzeko,bony,jovetic. All we have is giroud and welbeck. But once again this comes to mind that does Wenger believe in Theo.?? If he does then I guess we won’t see a striker coming in. Its a sad fact but its what’s going on at the moment. Wenger thinks what we got is enough to push for the title. But we fans want a top striker and know the importance of a new striker. I even think someone like dzeko or negredo can challenge giroud. Also bringing a new striker would damage Theo, he would be devastated. So Wenger needs to talk to Theo and tell him he’s better off playing on the wing and sign a top striker.

In my opinion it has been proved that injury to Giroud does hurt us, we lose some potency. Another striker will reinforce our potency. A player for Giroud to compete with makes sense, and if the player turns out to offer more than Giroud does, well that can only be a good thing.

Basically to put our fears at rest. Not just an injury fear but also what if Walcott plays well, however we still come up short. Better to be safe than sorry.

1. We buy a new top class striker with Hiroud as 2nd choice.
2. We buy another goalscoring winger and stick with Giroud up front.
3. We play Walcott as our new striker or as another goalscorer on the wings with Alexis.

Knowing Arsenal, I think the 3rd option is the most likely. For us fans though, it does represent a risk. Most of us really like Theo, but is he going to get us the goals we need? He can do it, we know he can. But will he? In other words, can we rely on him?

We have 5 attacking players in the first team at the moment – Walcott, Giroud, Alexis, Ox and Welbeck. 5 is enough quantity-wise, quality is what we’re looking to improve. So to me the only way we’ll get another attacking player is if we sell someone. Someone on top of Podolski, Campbell and Sanogo. That or we send someone out on loan. I can’t see us selling any of those 5, so if it is a loan, it’d probably be either Ox or Welbeck as they’re they youngest and most peripheral, and I can’t see us loaning either of them out either. So to me it seems as though option 3 is by far the most likely for Arsenal next year.

We need a new striker…Cazorla who actually plays alongside Giroud (not like some obsessed guys here who’ve never played football expect in play-station) emphasized these…OOOhhh, have you heard city, madrid, bayern, etc players asking for strikers???…i bet no…so for only that reason in particular(God i have so many) i think we should spend on a top quality forward…
11-16-14–Van pussy scored that in a single season just that we had a crappy team in general that time…we would have won the league if we had the team we have now

Lol Liverpool sign firmino who’s playing in the copa America. In the space of two days!
We heard Petr Cech has agreed terms with us.
Then we reached a 10.9 million fee for him.
Now he will have a medical mid next week sometime to complete the move 😐
He lives in west London, a few miles away from us lol

I think its more logical that liv have had feelers out for months and they have been in contact and negotiations for quite a while only it didnt get leaked. The money liv were offering its no wonder no leaks. Just because you see a club buying a player before you heard anything much on it doesnt mean it wasnt a long drawn out affair. There fans do the same thing done on here by believing every rumour to be true before some other club nabs him then believing you got snubbed when in fact there is no evidence.

We not only need to improve our squad with new signings,we need to do it EARLY. The reason we were not challenging last ssn is due to a slow start. It has already been confirmed that alexis will miss the start of the ssn,plus our opening fixtures are not easy.Signing players during the last few days of the window might prove costly as we might find ourselves playing catch up by November. When will wenger ever learn??

OG had a great season. We play with a target and even Danny W was playing back towards goal. Do people think this arose from nothing or does the manager have a big say in the style we play.
He tried to have Sanogo play they way as well. AW likes having someone up front that can link up with the midfield while also being a big threat on set pieces. Oh btw league goals mean what compared to FA cup goals or CL goals?

To be quite frank, while I appreciate the article, for me it shouldn’t even need further analysis. We need another senior striker. 3 seasons with just 1 senior specialist striker is now beyond a joke. It hasn’t worked in any of those three seasons.

And as much as Giroud might think he can do the job alone – he can’t. He always plays his best at the start of a season or after an injury. He does always fade away as the games continue to mount.

Not saying Schneiderlin is nailed on to join but I remember watching a John Cross interview last week and he said Cech will join sooner than later and we are definitely after another midfielder. The MF’s he listed were:
Schneiderlin
Kondogbia
Krychowiak
Gundogan
Can’t recall if he listed more but he said Schneiderlin was the priority since last summer but Coquelin emergence slowed that this summer but still very likely. Attacker he said if we had gotten Welbeck on loan then yes but since it was permanent it unlikely. That could change as well as it’s looking like Podolski, Campbell and Sanogo are heading out whether on loan or flat out sold. #I believe him

Yea I read that too,
that’s what happens when your considered 2 class team when the big guys point to players they just start running, hope I’m wrong about Kos
This is exactly why I get fustrated when we don’t buy big and fight or be contender for the big cups like EPL and CL

We should just do what other clubs do by asking for the transfer record to be broken. What ever the record is for a cb we should ask and then see how much they really want him. Ps if they go for that then we should say give us Bale instead, and if they go for that then we should just pay cash for Bale and say were keeping Boss.

I say while Atletico Madrid are busy tying down Vietto and Martinez after selling Manzukic, we should get in there and relieve them of Griezmann. Gazidis said in the past 2 – 3 years it’s been the players we’re least or not even linked to publicly. Griezmann for RW!!!

We have seen Real Madrid and Barcelona stopped relying on one specialist striker as they have diversified their attacking line with rotating cfs and 2 wide players attacking from the 2 wide areas. To get that 25 epl goals per season specialist striker may be hard and too costly to get by Arsenal. But they can develop one at the club to become that specialist. Hence I have suggested that Arsenal make do with all the 3 strikers of Giroud, Walcott and Welbeck who are in their backyard as 3 cfs in rotation. And the Boss should sign a top quality right winger to play in the opposite direction to Sanchez at lw. Jack Wilshere and Ramsey could be played as options in rotation with the new right winger. While Oxchabo can complement Sanchez at LB when necessary. Let’s keep faith with 7 goals last season Welbeck. He could have a break through 2015/16 season.

Yes.. But also to help.. He is quite a stationary striker famed for hold up play rather than his ability to skill or outpace his opponent, Sure whilst we do have others who can do that the only one who has a consistent and prolific scoring record is Giroud.